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The Wall Street Journal has an article -- Rulings Bolster Insurers, by Liam Plevin and Peter Lattman -- that discusses the tide of pro-insurance appellate rulings in the Katrina litigation. The Journal's Law Blog also celebrates State Farm's outside counsel, Sheila Birnbaum of Skadden Arps, as the Law Blog Lawyer of the Day.

I worked with Sheila Birnbaum while I was at Skadden, and can second the Law Blog's comments. Mass tort litigation remains an unsettled, developing phenomenon, and Sheila's deep understanding of the issues, born of her many years as a law professor at NYU and Fordham, is an invaluable asset -- as is shown particularly by her mastery of appeals and complex negotiations. In the continuing history of mass torts, now several decades old, Sheila should surely be seen as among the handful of most influential lawyers.